Hunsaker Scholarship Prize

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Investing in Tomorrow's Leaders

The Richard and Virginia Hunsaker Scholarship Prize is awarded annually to a select number of exceptional incoming students from diverse backgrounds.

The highly competitive award meets each recipient’s full demonstrated financial need for all four years at Redlands. It also offers the opportunity to participate in an expenses-paid networking trip to a major metropolitan city where Scholars meet with alumni leaders in a variety of fields.

Each year, our admissions committee identifies students during the application review process who exhibit outstanding academic achievement, leadership, and contribution to their schools and communities. Candidates are then invited to campus to compete for the award, interviewing with a panel of faculty and alumni leaders.

Alumni couple Richard and Virginia Hunsaker, class of 1952, established the Hunsaker Scholarship Prize in 2014 with their transformational gift of $35 million to the University of Redlands. The scholarship program aims to fund a Redlands education for students who will not only become leaders in society, but also will follow the Hunsakers’ example by giving back to their communities and the University.

2018 Hunsaker Scholars

Nina Fletcher '22

Hometown: Portland, Oregon

High School: St. Mary’s Academy

Nina Fletcher is passionate about everything from art and literature to the physiology of love and sexuality. Before coming to the Universty of Redlands, she helped found the annual Women’s Empowerment Week at her high school and volunteered to teach science to sixth graders in the Oregon wilderness. Her short films have been shown at the All American High School Film Festival in New York City, and she was a 2017 YoungArts Winner for her photography. After graduating from the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies, Nina hopes to pursue a PhD and eventually become a filmmaker, photographer, or professor.

Simmy Grewal '22

Hometown: San Bernardino, California

High School: Cajon High School

Passionate about the intersection between service and business, Simmy Grewal aspires to empower others. Simmy was an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma recipient, graduating as valedictorian of her class. She strives to continually be one thing: a change-maker. In 2017, she coordinated a service campaign with her Student Government for low-income elementary students, named “Soled Out For Kids”. She successfully raised $15,000 to provide shoes, socks, and backpacks for over 600 students in her hometown. Since the seventh grade, Simmy has been a bass guitarist performing in an all-girl rock band for charities in her local community like the Believe Walk, Children’s Fund, Sam Ash Foundation, and more. Her leadership was further seen through her role as president of the CHUMS community service club, vice president of her Associated Student Body, and a coordinator in the LULAC Youth Health Ambassador program. Simmy spent her summer as a Bank of America Student Leader, learning how to bring change to her local community through interning at a non-profit named Arrowhead United Way and participating in a summit in Washington DC.

Sintia Marquez Jimenez '22

Hometown: San Jose, California

High School: Presentation High School

Sintia Marquez Jimenez has a passion for advocacy and helping others. After feeling like there wasn't a safe space for Latinx students at her high school, Sintia founded a Latinx club that paved the way for a number of other ethnic student clubs and changed the school's constitution for student organizations. She also organized a number of student rallies at her school that promoted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and other political policies. In addition to her political activism, Sintia was a member of the track and cross country teams and Peer Ministry, a group for Catholic students that encouraged peer support. As a volunteer math tutor at Sacred Heart Community Service, she gave back to the same organization where she was tutored as a child by tutoring low-income students. As a first-generation college student, Sintia is looking forward to continuing her political activism at the University of Redlands and eventually pursuing a career in public policy or advocacy.

Julia Scully '22

Hometown: Palmer, Alaska

High School: Palmer High School

Julia Scully is a recent transplant from Palmer, Alaska to Redlands. In high school, she was involved with various public health programs, such as the Youth Alliance for a Healthier Alaska, and Question, Persuade, and Refer suicide prevention training. She has also worked on the Stand for Salmon campaign, which works to save the natural habitats of wild Alaskan salmon. Through her work, Julia has focused on issues of sexual education, reproductive rights, violence prevention, and environmental preservation. She is hoping to continue that work through her emphasis in the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies and looks forward to getting involved with the campus and community.

The University of Redlands does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin,
gender, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, or other legally-protected characteristic in its programs and
activities. Read the Notice of Nondiscrimination here.